Beet harvester



"Jan. 27, 1925- 1,524,515

0. C. HANSON BEET HARVESTER Filed April 10. 1922 s Sheets-Shet 1 311mm oz Jan. 27, 1925.

1,524,515 0. C. HANSON BE'ET HARVESTER Filed April 10, 1922 3 Sheets-Sheet Z nullll Patented Jan. 27, 1925.

UNITED STATES OLE C. HANSON, 0F HOPKINS, MINNESOTA.

BEET HARVESTER.

Application filed April 10, 1922. Serial No. 551,363.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, OLE C. Hanson, a citizen of the United States, residing at Hopkins, in the county of Hennepin and State of Minnesota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Beet Harvesters, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to beet harvesters and the main object is to provide an efficient and practical machine for digging beets, or other similar vegetables, out of the ground, and elevating them to a suitable mechanism for cutting off their tops and separating them therefrom. Further objects will be disclosed in the course of the following specification, specifically pointed out in the claim appended hereto, and fully illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of my machine, a few fractional portions being broken away for illustration purposes.

Fig. 2 is a top view of the machine.

Fig. 3 is a front elevation of the machine.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged detail inner view of one of the plows.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings, and by reference characters, 6 designates the frame of the machine, which is supported on a pair of rear wheels 7 and at its front end on a wheel truck 8, adapted to be drawn by horses or other suitable means connected thereto at 9.

A shaft 10 is journaled in a pair of brackets 11 on the main frame, and on said shaft is trunnioned a pair of radius bars 12, which incline forwardly and have at their front ends a rotatable shaft 13. On said shafts 10 and 13 are secured sprocket wheels 14 and 15, respectively, over which is stretched a sprocket chain 16, having secured thereon a series of carriers 17, each of which is provided particularly at its sides with a number of short tines 18 adapted to stick in the beet tops and carry the beets up on the conveyor. The carriers 17 are prevented from tipping sidewise by a pair of guides or rails 19, secured on the bars 12, on which the carriers ride in their upward course. The lower ends of the bars 12 are adjustably carried by links 20 operatively secured to hand lever 21 which may thus be used to regulate the height of the lower end of the elevator.

A pair of horizontally disposed plow beams 22 are tiltably mounted one at each end of the shaft 13. The rear ends of said beams are provided with bracing links 23 which are detachably secured in holes 24 in the bars 12 so that the depths of the plows can be regulated at will. The plows, which are secured to the front ends of the beams 22, consist each of a side plate 25 and a tapered angle iron 26 secured to the inner side thereof. The front ends of the plows are spaced apart, as shown 1n Figs. 2 and 3, but tend to narrow their opening as they continue rearward and upward. The plows are further connected together and made relatively rigid by an arched beam 27. A shaft 28, driven by a belt 29 from the shaft 10, is journaled on said arched beam, and is provided with radially projecting tines 30, which as they rotate assist in elevating the beets from the plows onto the carrier plates. Said plates 17 move quite rapidly so that as each beet is brought over the top of the plow, one set of tines 18 will engage in the beet top and pull the beet up on the carrier, as illustrated in Fig. 1.

The shaft 10 is driven by a chain 31 from a shaft 32 which is also suitably journaled in the main frame, and the shaft 32 is in turn driven by a sprocket chain 33 from a rotatably mounted shaft 34. The upper run of the chain 33 rides in a channel member 35 (see Fig. 2) supported on transverse braces 36, and is provided with receiving plates 37, which receive the beets as they drop from the plates 17 and move them rearwardly to a cutting device. It may be noted that with the forward end of the chain 33 properly located beneath the upper end of the carrier chain 16 the beets will, in dropping from the latter to the former, reverse their direction and fall with their tips pointed rearward, as illustrated in Fig. 1.

The shaft 34 has a pinion 38 which is driven by a chain 39. The chain 39 passes over two idler pinions 40 and 41, drives a shaft 42, and is in turn driven by a sprocket gear 43. The gear 43 is journaled on the shaft 44, which is driven by the wheels 7, and is provided with a suitable clutch mechanism 45 so that it can be thrown in or out of gear, at pleasure.

It is understood that various modifications may be made in the general design as well as the structural details of this machine provided, however, that such inodi fications come within the spirit and scope of the appended claim. Having now therefore fully shown and described my invention, What I claim to be new and desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

In a machine of the class described the combination With av digging device at the front end of the machine, of an elevator adapted to receive heetsor the like from the digging device and deliver them up into the machine, said elevator consistin of two side members, an endless conveyor 5min intermediate said members, carrier plates at intervals on said chain, and guide bars secured on the-inner sides of the side members for supporting the sides of the carrier plates on the upper run of the conveyor.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signatnre.

OLE C. HANSON. 

